Pac-Man baddies with Inkscape
Drawing the Pac-Man baddie
The process is very light, it starts with some
node editing, which is the hardest part, but then
continues only with ellipses, gradients and some
blur.
Draw a circle using the ellipse tool (keep the
Ctrl key pressed while dragging to get a circle)
and then convert the circle to path (Path >
Object to Path).
Convert to the node editor and add (by doubleclicking) two nodes near the extreme left and
right nodes of the circle.
Select the two newly created nodes (with Shift) and drag them to the bottom (keep the Ctrl key
pressed while dragging to restrict the movement to the vertical).
Select the newly created left node and the bottom node and press twice the insert new
node button. Select the right and bottom nodes and repeat the operation (two insert nodes). Each
segment will be split with 3 new nodes. You may now delete the left and right segmenting nodes to
simplify the shape.
Pac-Man baddies with Inkscape
Select (with Shift) the two nodes left and right nearest to the original bottom node and move them up
a bit (with Ctrl key pressed, to restrict the movement to the vertical).
This is the "ghost" shape.
The hard part has ended, we have the basic ghost shape, we can add the eyes (a white and a black
circle, duplicate) and we have a simple Pac-Man baddie.
But we will do something fancier, duplicate the ghost shape and make the duplicate black. Change
the black color with a radial gradient going from completely transparent black at the center
to partly transparent black at the margins. Move the center of the gradient up and left to have a
light source.
Pac-Man baddies with Inkscape
For the eye create a white circle, duplicate it and fill the duplicate with the same radial gradient. Add
a smaller black circle. Group them, duplicate the group to get the second eye.
Add a highlight: create an white ellipse, move it in the upper-left, rotate a bit apply some blur and
reduce the opacity.
Pac-Man baddies with Inkscape
Optionally, create a second highlight in the same way.
For increased realism, add a shadow: a black ellipse at the bottom, move it below the rest of the
graphic and fill with a radial gradient going from solid black at the center to partly
transparent black at the margins.
Pac-Man baddies with Inkscape
Add a bit of blur to the shadow and we are done.
Pac-Man baddies with Inkscape
Color variations are easy: duplicate the bad guy and change the fill color of the base ghost shape.
Next Try to do this:
Instead of the solid color for the base ghost shape you can use a texture.
Pac-Man baddies with Inkscape
Next Try and customize your ghost: